Collections (Common and Odd)

[azwildcat96]

After reading the thread in the DIY forum about skull collecting, I started to wonder what others collect. Maybe it's a common collection,;maybe it's a little unusual. I'll start off:

Stamps and coins are the common collection for me. I've been collecting them since I was a kid.

A little more strange, I collect bullets. Rifle, shotgun, and pistol, both unfired examples, as well as fired bullets, slugs, and pellets pulled from game that I've taken.

And then I have picked up and collected other "natural" stuff while out on hikes, hunts, and other adventures. Things like old horse shoes, mineral specimens, crystals, fossils, arrowheads, feathers, weathered glass from old bottles.

So what strange things do you collect?

[fortcollinsjerry]

Not trying to start a flaming argument here, but FWIW, the arrow heads belong to a Native Nation and are probably historic relics which have some religious association (how long has it been since flint was used for arrow or lance points?). Picking them up where you find them is akin to pulling coral from the sea or finding it along a beach. If some Forest Service Ranger spots you you may have more trouble that ir's worth.

But, I have to admit it is tempting as they are mostly works of art from another century.

AS to my efforts, I'ved started a nice collection of small kilt pins which I can wear as a lapel pin when I'm in civilian attire. Most have come off ebay but I did find a pawn shop in Edinburgh where I found a nice reminder of the trip.

[Bugbear]

In the past, I have collected coins and microphones.

I do collect stones and hand polish them, sometimes even carving them, though not so much anymore. I have amassed a collection of plumbing fittings of assorted types and materials; that comes in handy when it's difficult to get over to the hardware store. I collect a whole bunch of containers, cans, plastic jars and containers of all shapes and sizes, glass jars, decorative glass jars, colored glass, broken high temperature glass and table ware, and pieces of wood and tree branches that are laid out in the very back of my property and allowed to weather. My little studio/patio is full of these things. From time to time, my artist friends come over and collect materials; for example, dozens of one quart yogurt containers, large coffee ground containers, and plastic peanut butter jars for holding ceramic glazes and other art materials. Of course, the plant containers and flats from garden nurserys and so on. Sometimes people bring me these things, which I have to sort and clean... It's a kind of reuse type of collecting.

[Tobus]

I collect historical firearms, ranging from 1900 through the modern era, and from all over the world. I'd love to include older ones from the 1700s and 1800s, but they are very cost-prohibitive for me. Due to the stern prohibitions on this forum concerning this subject, though, that's all I can say about it.

Let's see... I also collect various military medals and service pins from WWII, mainly Russian and German (plus some Swiss guard items).

My wife, aside from collecting skulls, also collects antique doorknobs. She has a wide array of them, ranging from porcelain to crystal to metal. Some are very fancy and well-preserved, and some were literally dug up from ruins of old farm houses.

I haven't added to this collection in several decades, but I still have a fairly extensive collection of beverage coasters from Europe. When I lived in Germany as a child, and we traveled around the continent, every time we would stop at a restaurant or cafe, I would ask for a coaster, or just take one from the table that hadn't been ruined yet by condensation from the glasses. They're usually cardboard and printed with various beverage brands on them (mainly pilsners and ales and such), and they're probably not worth anything to anyone but me. But I love the variety and artistry of them.

[Spartan Tartan]

I collect Belt Buckles. Big ones, small ones, all sorts...mind you, that although they appear to be random, there is a story for each one and how I came to own it. Pulling them all out is like a trip down memory lane.

[Burly Brute]

I use to collect card decks...but I don't collect much of anything anymore, unless you consider my new passion for kiltage!

[tyger]

Not a collector of anything, just an accumulator of many things.

If one had this technology, and others did not, then one would be invincible.

Redfish skull, dorsal view


Footnote: This skull is straight from a crab trap and has not been cleaned, except forwhat the crabs et al did.

[BoldHighlander]

Well, lets see...
since I was about 16 yrs old it has been a tradition for my family to give me a "cowboy" related Christmas ornament (usually of tin). So I collect those.

I also collect Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books (most are 1st editions). Must have something to do with my last name

I use to go to the local "beach" /parks and beach comb for pieces of green or (the even more rare) blue glass that had been in the water for sometime & washed smooth by sand & tide. Sometimes I'd even score a piece of pottery. I also collected unusual shells I found, looking in particular for what we call "China Hats".

I also have items that my Grandfather gave to me during his times of working in the woods (including a piece of tree w/ bear claw markings in it, and his "mercy whips" e.g. one man version of the two man saws & his rather large two headed felling axe), and some of his old horse shoes & animal traps.

[MacBean]

herbals and plant medicine tracts (all languages); primitive art, esp. masks and featherwork that interests me, mostly Amazonian.

[cessna152towser]

I collect model trains, both scale models of contemporary trains and vintage toy trains, also diecast model vehicles in 1/76 scale, and I also have a few small scale model airliners and warplanes.